Nurse Education Training Program Starts in Macedonia

Skopje, Macedonia,
May 21, 2014

By: Katerina Takovska, Project HOPE Macedonia

Recently Project HOPE Macedonia welcomed two volunteer health professionals from the United States: Dr. Janet Kinney, a pediatrician and retired neonatologist from Dallas and Cherri Dobson, a neonatal nurse from the San Francisco Bay area. Both are enthusiastic, long-time Project HOPE volunteers with a combined 17 missions between them.

The main purpose of their mission in Skopje, Macedonia was to develop a Nurse Educational Training program (NET), a nurse mentorship program in which Project HOPE volunteer health professionals provide advanced training to nursing staff at the University Clinical Center in Skopje, Macedonia.

While at the Children’s Hospital, Ms. Dobson worked closely with the nursing staff to care for a chronically ventilated child in the intensive care unit. She also shared her skills in clearing patient airways, better body positioning, “nesting” of preterm infants to make them more comfortable and pain control. She worked in several departments including also cardiology, oncology, hematology and the emergency department.

Dr. Kinney worked closely with the infection control nurse at the clinical center on an educational course which will develop skills, techniques and knowledge in improving infection control. They are also working on a surveillance system, following CDC guidelines, to monitor health care associated infections.

The Skopje University Clinical Center was thrilled to have such experienced clinicians and invited them to demonstrate the proper method for intubation to the pediatric residents there. They provided an interactive lab using donated Kaiser Foundation hospital manikins. The residents were very pleased to be able to practice their intubation skills with Ms. Dobson and Dr. Kinney.